POLAND – Police say it’s a crime, pure and simple. A woman who admits to running a prostitution operation said it’s a way for women to put their kids through college, pay bills and put supper on the table.
A Main Street woman was arrested this week and charged with promoting prostitution. Investigators said 37-year-old Donna Wilson has been running a sex-for-money operation out of her home for at least a month.
“She’s been running an ad in the Lewiston Sun Journal for some time now,” said Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Detective William Gagne. “We received some complaints and we began looking into it. We ended up sending in an undercover officer to investigate.”
What they found, police said, was a prostitution operation being run out of a home at 973 Main Street. Wilson was charged Wednesday with promotion of prostitution. She was free on bail Friday night. But the investigation into her alleged operation was only beginning.
“She had some employees. We found some records,” Gagne said. “We’re still investigating and there may be more charges.”
The ad that ran in the newspaper was concise and simple. “Cute and classy,” it said. “New females.”
Two lines and a telephone number. Police said people who called the number were able to arrange for a sex-for-money exchange.
The ad appeared in the paper earlier in the week. By Friday, it was no longer in the personal section of the classified section.
Reached at home Friday night, Wilson admitted she had women working for her in the prostitution business. But she also defended those women and their right to make money.
“Most of the girls that worked here were not into drugs, they were not drinkers,” Wilson said. “They were here to make a living.”
Wilson did not comment on how many other women were involved in her operation. She did, however, defend their right to make money in the way that they chose.
“Whether it’s wrong or not, they are not bad people,” Wilson said. “One of them was putting herself through college. One is a single mother. Some were paying their bills. They were doing what they had to do.”
Wilson is scheduled to appear in court to answer the charge Nov. 19.
mlaflamme@sunjournal.com
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